이희구. 마저리 켐프 서의 복수 서문: 아룬델의 칙령과 긴 서문의 탄생
Heegoo Lee. Two Proems of The Book of Margery Kempe: Arundel’s Constitutions and the Birth of the Long Proem

Abstract

 Margery Kempe replaced a reference to the only identifiable person for an indefinite plural pronoun while expanding the short proem [prologue] into the longer one. Tellingly suspicious is her claim that the long proem would expand the short one more “openly” because she virtually disembodied the white friar. Alan of Lynn indubitably referred to in the short proem was the only unwavering spiritual guardian of Kempe. His dialogue with her about Scripture often provoked people around her, including Thomas Netter, who took a salient part in the prosecution of Lollards. Alan’s absence, which otherwise might have aroused Lollard-sensitive suspicions, can be explicated only by Kempe’s fear of the censorship bearing down not only her life but also her narrative. Kempe appears to erase the friar to defend her book against the conventional charges of heresy prescribed by Arundel’s Constitutions, the representative censorship measure against Lollards. The case of Alan applies to the remainder of the entire long proem in which Kempe varies the contents of the short proem without significant changes, or emphasizes the authority of church with new additions such as discernment of spirit. From comparison of the two proems we can know how well Kempe was versed in the medieval prologue tradition, where multiple prologues were not exceptions, and how tactically she managed to utilize the prologues to protect herself and her narrative against the religious censorship, as Chaucer and Gower did against their political status quo.

Key Words
Margery Kempe, proem, Arundel’s Constitutions, censorship, vernacular